Pentran Plans $3.6 Million Depot

Hampton Project Called Elaborate

HAMPTON — Pentran officials are asking to spend $3.6 million to build a bus station and parking lot downtown that would serve as a major transfer station for Pentran and Greyhound bus routes.

The proposed Hampton Transportation Center, to be built at King Street and Pembroke Avenue diagonally across from the site of a new courthouse, would be the most elaborate bus station funded in Virginia, according to Charles Badger, the state's assistant administrator for public transportation.

"This is the first major transfer center we'll be looking at," Badger said. "We've done transfer centers on a much smaller scope before. This one apparently is going to be a big one."

Pentran is applying for state, federal and city money to fund the project, which would include a 200-space parking lot and a 10,000-square-foot bus station, complete with offices, restrooms, an information kiosk and a video arcade, according to Pentran's state grant application. Part of the site would be designed for office or retail space that would be sold by the city.

"We want it to be attractive and fit in with the downtown development," said Michael Townes, executive director of Pentran, which operates the public bus system in Newport News and Hampton.

Townes said the bus station is needed to provide a safe place for the roughly 1,125 passengers who transfer on buses daily in downtown. About 200 buses stop on King Street currently to allow passengers to board and exit on the street, he said.

The city has already allocated $1.25 million to buy the site, which now houses an abandoned warehouse, and build a parking lot on it, according to the approved capital improvements plan. The Pentran proposal would use that money, and seek $1.25 million from the state and $1.2 million from the federal government, Townes said. If the federal grant is not approved, the city would be asked to make up the difference, he said.

Mayor James L. Eason said he supports the concept of the transportation center, but said the city may not be willing to bear any more of the cost than what it has already committed.

"If the grant falls through, the council has to take a very hard look at it," Eason said. "That doesn't mean the council would support spending $2.5 million for it. I don't think it's doable immediately."

Asked if he thought the project may be too costly, Eason said, "We're not looking to do any kind of monument, but I think everyone wants it to be a nice facility. It's going to be at a very strategic location in downtown."

Townes said the center would serve as an anchor for a future downtown shuttle service that Pentran hopes to begin within a year. He said the parking lot would accommodate tour buses, Greyhound buses, taxi cabs and parking for the future courthouse.

Badger said the state expects to receive requests for funding for local transit projects totaling about $37 million. Those will compete for a pot of $20 million statewide. He said the deadline for submitting proposals is Feb. 15.

Referring to the Pentran project, Badger said, "We believe they've demonstrated a need for a transfer facility. Exactly what they're proposing and how we'd participate we'll have to determine from the application."

If funding is approved, Townes said construction could begin as early as July 1, allowing for the bus station to open by the summer of 1991.

The City Council is expected to endorse Pentran's application at a meeting tonight at City Hall.